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With Low Approval Ratings in Wisconsin, Senator Johnson Turns to Billionaires to Fund his Campaign

Posted April 18, 2016

After 5 ½ years in the Senate, you’ve got low approval numbers, you’re getting outraised by your opponent, and you’re increasingly becoming the face of DC Republican obstructionism. If you’re Senator Ron Johnson, what do you do? Turn to billionaire-funded super PACs

Two super PACs tied to the senator combined to rake in over $1.1 million last quarter with more than half of that coming from just two donors. Richard Uihlein and Bernard Marcus, national conservative super donors, donated a combined $750,000 to super PACs supporting Johnson.

To put their donations in perspective, it would take the average American earning the federal minimum wage nearly 50 years to have $750,000 to donate. No wonder Ron Johnson opposes a federal minimum wage entirely. Johnson’s super PAC haul from didn’t stop him from visiting Las Vegas last weekend in a hunt for more Republican mega-donors to fund his campaign.

“Senator Johnson must be too busy meeting billionaire campaign donors to find time to do his job and consider Merrick Garland's nomination or read the TPP. Wisconsinites want a senator who is more interested in doing the job they were hired for than in courting billionaires and powerful corporations,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesman, Brandon Weathersby, said on Monday.

While Russ Feingold now has contributions from over 30,000 Wisconsinites, Ron Johnson has chosen to let the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson friends fund his Senate bid. Johnson still refuses to sign the Badger Pledge - an effort to limit spending from dark money groups in this campaign.